Doing things
🎯 Speak in the present about yourself and others.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- હું જાઉં છું — hun jaaun chhun 🔊 hoon JAA-oon chhoon I go / I am going. The verb plus છું. One shape covers both English tenses.
- તે ખાય છે — te khaay chhe 🔊 tay khaay chhay He/she eats. તે covers he and she; unlike Hindi, the verb here does not change for gender in the present.
- અમે શીખીએ છીએ — ame shikhiye chhiye 🔊 a-MAY SHEE-khee-yay CHHEE-yay We learn. અમે excludes the listener; આપણે includes them — the same distinction as Marathi.
- મને સમજાયું નહીં — mane samjaayun nahin 🔊 MA-nay sam-JAA-yoon na-HEEN I did not understand. નહીં nahin = not.
- તમે શું કરો છો? — tame shun karo chho? 🔊 ta-MAY shoon KA-ro chho What do you do? The polite opening about someone's work.
- ચાલશે — chaalshe 🔊 CHAAL-shay That will do. Literally 'it will walk' — the same idiom as Marathi चालेल.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 The verb splits into two words
Gujarati builds its present tense out of the verb plus છે. Where Hindi says जाता हूँ (two words: going + am), Gujarati says જાઉં છું — the same idea, with the person marked twice.
- હું જાઉં છું · તું જાય છે · તે જાય છે
- અમે જઈએ છીએ · તમે જાઓ છો · તેઓ જાય છે
- The છે part is the one that carries the respect level. Get that right and you will be understood.
🌍 Among the people
Business Gujarati is full of borrowed English: મીટિંગ, ઓર્ડર, પેમેન્ટ. Nobody minds; the grammar stays Gujarati and the nouns come from wherever is useful.
🔁 Practise today
- Give all six forms of જવું (to go) aloud.
- Say six things you do every day.
- Use અમે and આપણે correctly in two sentences each.
